Rusty screws floorboard removal

I’ll address this question in the form of a mini-tutorial: How to remove rusted old screws from floorboard rails. This is one of those questions that I get all the time and actually have a really great solution for. If you want to preserve original hardware that’s rusted into place, here’s how I do it…

Please don’t try heating the metal/plastic or soaking them with penetrating oil or chemicals used to dissolve rust – these methods will either warp your board(s) beyond repair or end up being very difficult if not impossible to remove. The method I’m showing here is safe and guaranteed to work every time…

Next, you’ll acquire some pneumatic tools (in this case we’re using a 7/16″ electric impact wrench). You might be able to get away with a manual version but the larger the torque of your tool, the faster things will go. With that in mind – make sure you have an adequate air supply on hand (I use a compressor that puts out around 200psi). Finally, you need an appropriate bit for your application. I used two 3/8″ hex shank sockets attached to the end of my breaker bar, which worked out great because their hex shank fit perfectly into the hex heads of my impact wrench.

When you’re ready, attach your socket bit to your wrench and tighten it down securely onto the head of the screw. Place a small piece of wood underneath where you’re working so that when the socket hits bottom, it will be taking up any downward force from gravity against whatever surface you’ve laid it on. Then just start cranking (literally). You might have to apply some elbow grease at first but with this method almost all rusted screws come out in no time without damaging or warping anything – if done correctly. It’s actually much faster than what I show here in pictures because those are only short clips of actual extraction done over several minutes.